Sinkable toy boats



June 13, 1961 L. BENJETSKY 2,987,849

SINKABLE TOY BOATS Filed Dec. 18, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 3b

June 13, 1961 L. BENJETSKY SINKABLE TOY BOATS Filed Dec. 18, 1957 lllll'ailnilif 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 50

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United States Patent 2,987,849 SINKABLE TOY BOATS Louis Benjetsky, 2555 Fernwood Road, Roslyn, Pa. Filed Dec. 18, 1957, Ser. No. 703,631 8 Claims. (Cl. 46-94) The present invention relates to an improved sinkable toy boat; and more particularly, a toy boat, which, when struck or bombed from above by droplets of a liquid within a prescribed target area, will, in fact, sink in a predetermined manner.

Prior art has indicated that sinkable toy boats, to date, have required a multiplicity of movable parts; such as a manual or missile actuated water inlet valve, to effect the sinking feature.

The instant invention, as will be noted, may accomplish the desired effect of a predetermined sinkability pattern with either a total absence or absolute minimum of movable parts.

An object of the instant invention is to provide a toy boat, which will normally float in a liquid, such as water, and when struck from above by droplets of such a liquid, at a prescribed target area, will initially list to starboard or port and continue to completely submerge, either bow or stern first.

Subsequent objects and advantages will become apparent in more detail in the explanation of the appended specification and the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a sectioned view taken on line 11 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 2 is a top view of the boat assembly,

FIG. 3a is a top view of the hull portion of the boat,

FIG. 3b is a top view of an alternate configuration of the hull portion of the boat,

FIG. 4a is a sectional view of the boat taken on line 44 of FIG. 2, which also shows the sinking initiator means,

FIG. 4b is a sequential view of the boat shown in FIG. 4a after the sinking initiator has accomplished its p FIG. 5a is a sectioned portion of the bottom of the hull showing an alternate configuration of the water inlet,

FIG. 5b is a sectioned portion of the bottom of the hull showing an alternate configuration of the water inlet,

FIG. 50 is a sectioned portion of the bottom of the hull showing an alternate configuration of the water inlet, and

FIG. 6 is a'view of a typical sinking operation.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like, or corresponding parts, throughout the several views, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a typical assembly, consisting of a hull 19 and a deck, or top portion 25.

The fundamental requirements for realistically and, in fact, sinking the boat, include a water inlet 20 about Which a meniscus 33 may be formed, a partition 18, a weight 14 and a means for initiating the sinking process.

Specifically, the boat would be placed in a liquid 36, such as water, as shown in FIG. 4a. A meniscus 33, composed of a portion of liquid 36, would form about inlet 20.

The meniscus 33, if properly formed in proportion and shape to satisfy the objectives of the instant invention, would initially preclude passage of liquid 36 into the hull 19 via the underside of inlet 20, while concurrently maintaining a degree of sensitivity to disturbance nearing a point of rupture, so that when the proportion or shape of said meniscus 33 is altered (as by a droplet of liquid from above, for example) rupturing will occur,

and liquid 36 will enter hull 19 at a continuing rate of flow until the boat is completely submerged.

The sensitivity of meniscus 33 to outward disturbance is controlled by a proportionally balanced interaction of elements, comprising: the inherent surface tension properties of liquid 36, the size and shape of inlet 20, and the degree of displacement of the boat within liquid 36.

A slight deviation in the preferred proportion of one or more of the above-mentioned elements, may result in either of two alternatives, namely: an immediate in-flow of liquid 36 into hull 19 via inlet 20 as said hull is placed into liquid 36, or meniscus 33 will become persistently resistant to disturbance, hence precluding entrance of liquid 36 into hull 19 via inlet 20.

Only a meniscus 33 of correct proportion and shape will result in fulfilling the desired objectives of the instant invention.

Next, a means for releasing liquid in measured quantities, such as dropper 31, is positioned above the boat. As liquid drop 32 is released from dropper 31, the trajectory 40 must be such that the liquid drop 32 passes through opening 22, in the deck 25, and continues through the hull 19 and into inlet 20. When such a trajectory is accomplished, the meniscus 33 at inlet 20 collapses, and liquid 36 enters the hull 19 in a continuing rate of flow as explained above.

Since, as shown in FIG 4a, the liquid enters the hull 19 to the left of longitudinal partition 18, the continued entry of liquid 36 on that side tends to unbalance the lateral weight distribution of the boat, and the boat will steadily list to that side. This portion of the action is shown in FIG. 4b. Of course, if the trajectory 40 would culminate at corresponding locations to the right of partition 18 in FIG. 4a, then the listing shown in FIG. 4b would occur to the right.

As the immediately preceding discussion has dealt with lateral listing of the boat assembly; the following paragraph will dwell on the factors which control the direction of simultaneous horizontal unbalance during the sinking operation.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2; the weight 14, which may be in the form of an airplane, as shown, may be positioned along the deck or top 25 by sliding the attached mounting assembly (composed of platform 15, shaft 17 and bottom plate 16) along elongated slot 13. The ultimate location of the weight 14 will affect a change in the horizontal center of gravity, and thus will determine a bow or stern-first sinking.

FIG. 3b shows a fixed weight 24 near the bow of the boat, to assure an ultimate bow-first sinking every time. Conversely, through not shown, the fixed weight 24 may be located near the stern section, to thus affect a constant stern-first sinking.

To allow for uninterrupted escape of air from the hull cavity during the sinking operation, strategically located openings have been provided. Namely, should the boat sink stern-first, openings 11 and 12 at the bow portion, are utilized as air escape vents, since vent 12 and vent 21 may be submerged. Conversely, in the event the boat sinks bow-first, openings 12' and 2.1 at the stern portion are utilized as air escape vents, since vents 11 and 12 may be submerged.

The partition 18 may be centrally located, and extend the entire length of the boat as shown in FIG. 3a; or may extend diagonally across hull 19 as shown in FIG. 3b, depending on the mode of sinking operation desired. In either event, the height of partition 18 must extend to a point below the underside of the top 25, to allow liquid 36 to overflow from one side of the partition 18 into the other during a sinking operation, thus assuring complete submergence.

Once submerged and recovered, the boat may be It is important that the area immediately surrounding the liquid inlet holes 20, inside the boat, be free of ambient liquid after submergence and draining, since the meniscus 33 may be prematurely broken. Hence a thin layer of liquid resistant material, such as wax 23, is applied to the area surrounding the holes 20. This may be omitted if the entire hull 19 is composed of material with a high resistance to water. such as, for instance, Polyethylene Plastic. This is indicated in FIG. 50.

FIGS. a, 5b, and 5c are alternate configurations of the inlet holes 20. FIGS. 5a and 5b include lips 34 and 35, respectively, as a means to preclude the formation of ambient liquid as discussed in the preceding paragraph. In these configurations, the hull 19, may be composed, for example, of such materials as metal, polyethylene, polystyrene or other plastics. The hull 19 of the configuration shown in FIG.5c, could be constructed of material with a high resistance to water, as, for example, polyethylene, as explained in the preceding paragraph.

FIGS. 3a and 3b are showings of typical hull construe-- tions. The hull 19 shown in FIG. 3a may be utilized in conjunction with the top 25 shown in FIG. 2, whereas in the hull 19 shown in FIG. 3b the slidable weight and elongated slot may be omitted. The location of the opening in top 25 immediately above holes 20 in FIGS. 3a and 3b is shown in phantom as 22 in each figure. The top 25 may be omitted entirely, if desired.

The top 25 is shown in the drawings to resemble an aircraft carrier, however this may also, if desired, be constructed in a variety of forms, such as a tanker, freighter, passenger ship, battleship, destroyer and the like.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates only to a preferred embodiment of the instant invention and that numerous modifications and alterations of the apparatus disclosed may be made with out departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sinkable toy boat capable of buoyancy within a buoying liquid comprising; a hull member, at least one liquid inlet on said hull extending below the water line at a first extremity and open to unrestrained ambient pressure at a second extremity when said boat is floated upon said buoying liquid, said liquid inlet being proportionately sized to co-act with the inherent surface tension properties of said buoying liquid and the degree of displacement of said boat within said buoying liquid to form a flow-controlling meniscus about said liquid inlet composed of a portion of said buoying liquid for controlling the flow of said buoying liquid into said hull as said boat is floated upon said buoying liquid, when formed, said meniscus being proportioned and shaped to be capable of initially precluding passage of said buoying liquid via and beyond said liquid inlet into said hull and being rupturable when said meniscus proportion and shape is altered, so that when rupture occurs said buoying liquid will pass through said liquid inlet at a continuing rate, means within said hull surrounding said second extremity of said liquid inlet for precluding the accumulation of ambient liquid contiguous with said second extremity to avoid premature rupture of said meniscus, means for rupturing said meniscus.

2. In the toy boat of claim 1; partition means in said boat to divide said boat into a plurality of compartments, at least one of said compartments containing said liquid inlet means, whereby liquid entering said hull will sequentially flowinto each of said compartments upon rupture of said meniscus.

3. In the toy boat of claim 2; means for unbalancing the weight distribution between the bow and stem portions of said boat.

4. In the toy boat of claim 3; positions of said unbalancing means beingselective.

5. A sinkable toy boat capable of buoyancy within a buoying liquid comprising; a hull member, at least one liquid inlet on said hull extending below the water. line at a first extremity and open to unrestrained ambient pressure at a second extremity when said boat is floated upon said buoying liquid, said liquid inlet being proportionately sized to co-act with the inherent surface tension properties of said buoying liquid andthe degree of displacement of said boat within said buoying liquid to form a flow-controlling meniscus about said liquid inlet composed of a portion of said buoying liquid for controlling the flow of said buoying liquid into saidhull as said boat is floated upon said buoying liquid, when formed, said meniscus being proportioned and shaped to be capable of initially precluding passage of said buoying liquid via and beyond said liquid inlet into said hull and being rupturable when said meniscus proportion and shape is altered, sothat when rupture occurs said buoying liquid will pass through said liquid inlet at a continuing rate, means within. said hull surrounding said second extremity of said liquid inlet for precluding the accumulation of ambient liquid contiguous with said second extremity to avoid premature rupture of said meniscus, means for rupturing said meniscus, a top portion attached to said hull portion, for forming a cavity between said topv and hullportions, said .top portion having access means therethrough. to said liquid inlet means in said hull portion, said cavity having vent means for permitting. entrapped air to pass freely from said cavity in the event of water intake to said cavity.

6. In the toy boat of claim 5, partition means in said hull to dividesaid hull into a plurality of compartments, at least one of said compartments containing said liquid inlet means, said partition height being sufliciently below the underside of said top portion as to allow free overflow of liquid between said compartments.

7. In the toy boat of claim 6; means for unbalancing the weight distribution between the bow and stem portions of said boat.

8. In the toy boat of claim 7; positions of said unbalancing means being selective.

References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,273,746 Daniels July 23, 1918 1,318,049 Budde Oct. 7, 1919 1,356,377 Lundstrom Oct. 19, 1920 1,402,155 Fierlein Ian. 3, 1922 1,776,791 Herbst Sept. 30, 1930 2,405,715 Sabini, Aug. 13, 1946 2,607,160 Forrest Aug. 19, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 23,501 Great Britain 1914 701,358 Great Britain Dec. 23, 1953 

